1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a record bearing medium container loading device arranged in a recording and/or reproducing apparatus of the kind using a container or a cassette containing a record bearing medium therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some recording and/or reproducing apparatuses of the kind for recording or reproducing information in or from concentric or helical recording tracks which are formed, for example, on a disc shaped record be ring medium such as a magnetic sheet are arranged to have a cassette which contains the disc shaped record bearing medium inserted from the front side of the apparatus into a cassette holder. This cassette loading arrangement is known as a front loading type. In inserting the cassetta into the cassette holder in the front loading type of device, the cassette is secured to the cassette holder by means of a pinching member disposed at the cassette holder. Referring to FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) of the accompanying drawings, a leaf spring 34' is disposed at an upper inside part of the cassette holder 7'. With the cassette 2 manually inserted in the direction of arrow C and further pushed inward against the resistance of the leaf spring 34' when the cassette 2 abuts thereon, the cassette 2 is placed under a pressing force of the spring exerted from above. Then, the cassette 2 is further pushed in until it comes to a predetermined position in which further movement of the cassette 2 is restricted by a bent part 7'a of the cassette holder 7'. At this point of time, the cassette 2 is firmly held by the cassette holder 7' under the pressing force of the leaf spring 34'. This arrangement thus necessitates use of a large force for pushing in the cassette 2 against the pressing force exerted by the leaf spring 34' and also for pulling out the cassette 2 from the cassette holder 7' against the pressing force of the leaf spring 34. Therefore, the cassette 2 cannot be smoothly inserted and taken out. This not only degrades the operability of the device but also might damage the cassette.
Further, in the case of a cassette loading device of the kind that is arranged as represented by FIG. 2, there arises the following inconvenience: Referring to FIG. 2, a cassette 2 has a magnetic sheet contained therein. A cassette holder 7' is arranged to have the cassette 2 inserted therein. Pins 169 and 170 are provided on the side face of the cassette holder 7'. A slide plate 166 is provided with bent shaped cam slots 167 and 168. The pins 169 and 170 are slidably fitted in the cam slots 167 and 168. The device includes a loading motor 173; a worm gear 159; a worm wheel 160; a gear 161 which is indicated by a broken line and is connected coaxially to the worm wheel 160; and gears 162 and 163 which are engaging the gear 161. The rotating shafts of the gears 162 and 163 are provided with arms 164 and 165. The arms 164 and 165 are provided with vertically extending slots 171 and 172. The pins 170 and 169 are slidably fitted into the slots 171 and 172 via the cam slots 167 and 168.
In loading the cassette 2, the cassette 2 is inserted into the cassette holder 7'. Then, when the loading motor 173 rotates, the rotation torque of the motor 173 is imparted to the worm wheel 160 and the gear 161 via the worm gear 159. They are turned counterclockwise by this torque. The gears 162 and 163 which engage the gear 161 are caused to turn clockwise. The arms 164 and 165 then turn clockwise on the rotating shafts of the gears 162 and 163. As a result of this, the pins 169 and 170 which are disposed on the side face of the cassette holder 7' are guided by the cam slots 168 and 167 and descend while moving to the right. When these pins reach their predetermined positions, a switch (not shown) operates to bring the rotation of the loading motor 173 to a stop. With the cassette holder 7' thus coming down into a predetermined position, the cassette 2 is set into a predetermined loading position. In unloading the cassette 2 from the apparatus, the loading motor 173 is rotated to have the gear arrangement perform its operation in the reverse manner. The cassette 7' is then caused to move upward into another predetermined position.
The loading and unloading operations on the cassette 2 must be gently carried out to avoid any impact on the cassette 2, the cassette holder 7' and parts associated with them. To meet this requirement, the gears 162 and 163 must be of a large diameter to increase their reduction gear ratio relative to the gear 161. Further, since each of the pins 170 and 169 must be moved from one end of the cam slot 167 or 168 to the other end thereof, the arms 164 and 165 must have a certain length which causes an increase in the size of the whole cassette loading device and thus presents a problem in respect to reduction in size of the device.
Further, a cassette loading device of the kind arranged as represented by FIG. 3 presents a problem concerning the cassette unloading operation. Referring to FIG. 3, the illustration includes a cassette 2 which has a magnetic sheet placed therein; a cassette holder 7'; and a slide plate 186 which is arranged to be slidable in the direction of arrow A or B along a slit 7'b of the cassette holder 7'. One end part of the slide plate 186 protrudes into the inside of the cassette holder 7' through the slit 7'b and is provided with an ejecting end 188 which is arranged to abut on the fore end of the cassette 2 on the inserting side thereof. A spring 187 is interposed in between a lower end part of the slide plate 188 and a lower end part of the cassette holder 7' on the cassette inserting side thereof. The slide plate 188 is being urged by this spring 187 to move in the direction of arrow B.
When the cassette 2 is inserted into thc cassette holder 7', the fore end on the inserting side of the cassette 2 abuts on the ejecting end 188 of of the slide plate 186. Then, with the cassette 2 is further pushed inward, the slide plate 188 slides in the direction of arrow A against one force of the spring 187. When the cassette 2 is pushed in to a predetermined extent, the cassette 2 is pinched by a pinching arrangement (not shown). The cassette holder 7' descends with the cassette 2 in the pinched state to have the recording and/or reproducing apparatus thus loaded with the cassette 2.
For ejecting the cassette 2, the cassette 2 is released from the pinching action of the pinching arrangement when the cassette holder 7' asccnds from tho loading position to the position shown in FIG. 3. With the cassette 2 thus released, a returning force of the spring 187 is exerted on the slide plate 186 to move the cassette 2 by the ejecting end 188 of the plate 187 in the direction of arrow B, so that the cassette 2 is ejected from the holder 7'. With the cassette loading and unloading device arranged in this manner, the cassette 2 is inserted against the force of the spring 187 which is exerted on the slide plate 186. Therefore, during a short period of time before the cassette 2 comes to be pinched by the pinching arrangement, the returning force of the spring 187 tends to slightly move the cassette 2 in the direction of arrow B to bring it away from a correct inserting position. Further, in ejecting the cassette 2, when the cassette 2 is released from the pinching action of the pinching arrangement, the returning force of the spring 187 causes the cassette 2 to suddenly jump out as the force drives the slide plate 166 to quickly slide in the direction of arrow B.
As described above, the cassette loading and unloading devices of the prior art thus have failed to smoothly perform cassette loading and unloading operations.